Originally Posted by
Often1
The gate for a routine domestic flight (staffed by 1-2 agents) is not the place for an extended transaction involving ticket sales. It is neither commercially feasible nor a good use of resources to do all of this at what one presumes is the last minute. If not the last minute, head off to a customer service desk and deal with it there.
The one issue which was remediable was moving OP's seat once he cleared standby and was assigned a seat. That is a "few keystrokes." Cancelling and rebooking e-tickets is not quite that simple.
OP went to the ticket counter.
Originally Posted by op
Run down to the ticket counter. They verify there are 4 empty 1st class seats, no upgraders. Ok, sell one to me... nope.
If the ticket counter does not exist to sell tickets, then what kind of world are we living in?